[mythtv-users] latest recommendation for VDPAU PCI card

[Brian Wood]

On Tuesday 27 October 2009 09:28:10 R. G. Newbury wrote:
> Christopher Kerr wrote:
> >         With the soon to be released .22, I hope to move to a real video
> >         card.
> >         Currently I'm using the TV-OUT of a PVR-350. What is the
> > recommended NVIDIA PCI card? Will I run into PCI bus saturation problems
> > if I'm running a PVR-150, PVR-350 and a video card all on the PCI bus?
> >
> >
> > The answer to your question is "Nvidia Geforce GT220". But something in
> > your phrasing makes me unsure if it's suitable for your system:
> >
> > When you say "PCI" and refer to capture cards on the same bus, it sounds
> > a lot like you mean PCI in the classic sense, rather than the modern PCI
> > Express sense.
> >
> > If you're running a legacy system with PCI slots + an AGP slot for
> > graphics (or even no graphics slot at all), you'll be out of luck. VDPAU
> > is only supported on quite recent nvidia cards, which all use PCIe.
> >
> > If, on the other hand, your system is relatively newish and has PCI
> > Express slots, the answer to your question is the new GT220.
> >
> > Classic PCI ports and PCI express ports don't share the same bus, so
> > that won't be an issue, so long as you have PCI express slots to use.
> > Else, the whole point is moot, because there are no graphics cards
> > available which are suitable.
> >
> > If you don't know whether you have PCI Express ports, as a rough guide,
> > they were first released in 2004 and became standard in 2005. If using
> > an Intel processor, you probably have PCIe if it's a Pentium-D or later
> > (Core, Core 2, Pentium Dual Core). If it's an AMD, I can't say off the
> > top of my head. Consult the manufacturers website/manual.
> >
> > - Chris
>
> A PCIE slot is about one and half inches (40 mm ) long.
>
> A PCI slot is about 4 inches (100 mm) long.

Depends on what sort of PCI Express slot. An X1 is about an inch long, and an 
X16 (the type used with video cards) is about the same length as a standard 
PCI or AGP slot:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express

Then the is the "mini" type slot, making for a total of at least 5 different 
types of the PCI Express slot.

Adding even more to the confusion, PCI-X is NOT the same as PCI Express.

Not so much a "standard" as a blueprint for total confusion.

-- 
Brian Wood
beww at beww.org